Worker gets 3rd-degree burns in Dover Township well fire

DOVER TWP. — For the second time in three weeks an oil well in Dover Township caught fire, this time sending an industry worker to the hospital for treatment of his burns Thursday.

According to Otsego County Fire Department Chief Dave Duffield, a failed valve caused crude oil to reverse flow from a dehydrator tank, travel up a lit flare tower and ignite before splashing down into a pit on the well pad.

“The whole pit was on fire,” Duffield said, noting the injured worker rolled in the snow to snuff out any flames on his body.

The worker reportedly received third-degree burns to his arms, face and buttocks and was transported by Otsego County EMS/Rescue ambulance to Otsego Memorial Hospital before being transferred to the trauma center at Flint Hurley Medical Center.

Another on-site worker shut down oil lines so firefighters could smother the blaze with water and fire-suppressing foam. The fire was out within 15 minutes. The liner of a containment pit was damaged by the fire.

The well, about a quarter-mile north of Wilkinson Road in southern Dover Township, was the site of another fire on Dec. 17. In that incident, an apparent equipment malfunction ignited a fire at the wellhead.

Putman Energy, the well’s operator, shut down the well and forced water in, pushing gas away from the surface.

Also responding to the scene Thursday was Charlton Township Fire Department, Mike Thompson with Otsego County Emergency Management and Andrea Sullivan with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Firefighters from the Elmira-Warner, Otsego Lake and Vanderbilt-Corwith township fire departments were en route when they were called off after the fire was put out.